Washington: Following President Donald Trump’s shuttering of the journalist in March, a US appellate court on Saturday ruled against allowing Voice of America workers to return to operate.
Since Trump ordered the dismantling of the US Agency for Global Media ( USAGM ), which oversees VOA and other broadcasters including Radio Free Asia and distributes federal funding for their operations, Voice of America (VOA ), a US government-run news service for international audiences, has been off the air.
Neomi Rao and Gregory Katsas, two judges who were appointed by Trump, wrote in their decision that the lower court “probably lacked subject-matter authority over USAGM’s staff activities.”
Cornelia Pillard, a former president and a second judge, dissented.
Plans for Invoices workers to return to work are being thrown into chaos by the ruling, which comes with a number of indicators emerging before Saturday’s court decision.
The agency’s main nationwide correspondent Steve Herman posted on social media system X,” A Justice Department attorney has sent an email to our lawyer, David Seide, informing him that USAGM expects VOA staff to start a “phased return” to operate and programming to begin next week.”
Two VOA employees also reported on Saturday that activated operate email accounts had been sent despite not having received a formal notice letting them return to work.
In a blog on X, far-right journalist Kari Lake, who was appointed by Trump to handle USAGM, applauded the administrative decision.
” BIG WIN in our lawful situations at USAGM &, Voice of America. President Trump and Article II received a significant defeat, Lake wrote.
Turns out that the District Court determine won’t be able to run the organization as he appeared to be.
The leader has questioned why the journalist, which has millions of regular listeners and people around the world, doesn’t support the views of his administration, blaming the editor “firewall” that allowed the company to work independently.
After a prosecutor found that Trump’s shutdown was in violation of the law, some former Invoices directors, nominated across party lines over the years, pressed Congress to act in an April notice to lawmakers.
World Press Freedom Day, which honors the importance of a free media and highlights the difficulties that news faces worldwide, is observed on May 3.
